Bias-cutting machine.



W.'A. GORDON. BIAS CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED ]AN.2. 1915.

Patented July 27, 1915.

@SEETS-SHEET I.

ullll H I "4h" COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0" WASHINGTON, D. c.

W. A. GORDON.

BIAS CUTTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 1AN.2, 1915 1 148,162. PatentedJuly 27, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH (20-. WASHINGTON. D. c.

W. A. GORDON.

BIAS CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.2.1915.

1,148,162. Patented July 27,1915.

5 SHEETSSHEET 3.

W. A. GORDON.

BIAS CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.2, 1915.

Patented July 27, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAI'H c0-,\vAsHlNGTON;D. cv

W. A. GORDON.

BIAS CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION men JAN.2. 1915.

1,148, 1 62. Patented July 27-, 1915 5 SHEETSSHEET 5.

1 fil ng" COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH 1:0..wAsmNfiT6N. I). C

rrn 'rAs are WILLIAM A. GORDON, 0F SHELTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TOBIRMINGHAM IRON UFFTQE.

FOUNDRY, OF IDEBBY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

BIAS-CUTTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pa tjQntQd July 27, 1915.

Application filed January 2, 1915. Serial No. 314.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAM A. GORDON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Shelton, in the county of F airfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bias-CuttingMachines; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings and the characters ofreference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application,and represent, in

Figure 1 is a top or plan view of the forward end of a bias cuttingmachine construction in accordance with my invention. ,Fig. 1 a top orplan view of the rear portion of the machine. Fig. 2 a side view of aportion of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 a side view of the rearportion of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 a face View of the knifebridge and upper knife detached. Fig. 4 a side view partly in section ofthe knifebridge and upper knife, and the carrier with its grippingfingers shown in the open position. Fig. 5 a vertical sectional viewthrough the bridge, knife-carrier, the forward end of the table and thecarriage, and showing the grippers in position just before gripping astrip. Fig. '6 a broken side view on an enlarged scale showing means foroperating the anti-friction transverse rollers in the bed. Fig. 7 abroken face view showing the means for mounting the anti-frictionrollers. Fig. '8 shows an end view of one of the table plates. Fig. 9 adetached view of one of the tubular bearings. F ig.- 10 asectional viewthrough the forward bearing block. Fig. 11 a sectional view through therear bearing block. 12 a detached view of one of the forward bearingblocks. ig. 13 a side view partly in section illustrating thearrangement of the warp or spreading fingers. Fig. 14- a detailsectional view showing the means for releasing the grippers.

This invention relates to an improvement in bias cutting machines suchas particularly adapted for cutting sheets of rubber cloth, but equallyapplicable for cutting other materials The object of this invention isto simplify the operation of machines of this character with specialreference to machines adapted for cut-tin g very wide material; and thethe claims. I r

The construction of the machine will best invention consists in theconstruction heremafter described and particularly recited in beunderstood inconnection with the description of the operation. A roll 2of material to be cut is mounted on a shaft 3. If this material isrubber cloth it comes from the calender rolls mounted upon a drum with alayer of canvas or other material toprevent the layers of rubber fromsticking together. If this backing is employed it is stripped from thesheet 4: of rubber and wound upon a drum or roller 5. The sheet 4:passes over a roller 6, thence around a roller 7, then over a roller 8,all of which are driven. As herein shown a pulley 9 is driven by a beltor otherwise. This pulley is mounted on a shaft 10 which carries apinion 11 meshing with a gear 12 on the roller 7. The roller 7 at theopposite end carries a gear 13 meshing with a gear 14 on the roller 6,and the roller 6 is connected by sprocket chain 15 with a sprocket 16 onthe roller 8, while the roller 7 is provided with a sprocket 17 which isconnected with the sprocket on the roller 5 by a sprocket chain 18. Fromthe roller, 8 the fabric passes beneath a weight roller 19 moving inguides 20, and thence onto a table 21. To keep the sheet smooth, aseries of'guide or secured to a transverse channel iron 2d 'which formsabracc connecting the two side frames 25, 26/ These fingers are bowedupward and forward and divided into sets, one set inclined toward theright, and the other toward the left, and their forward ends areconnected with a slide 27 by which these fingers may be moved by ahandled rod 28. The face of the table is formed by a series of ribbedplates 29. These platesare interrupted at intervals by transverseclearance spaces 30 in which transverse rollers 31 are placed and whichnormally project above the plane of the bed. The ends of these rollersare mounted in arms 32, said arms mounted in brackets 33. The shortshafts of the arms 32 extend, through the bracket and are provided withhandles 35 by which the arms may be turned so as to drop the rollersbelow the plane of the table plates 29 if the friction between thefabric and table plates does not require them.

1 I At the forward end of the table is a stationary cutter bar or lowerknife 36 which extends diagonally across the frame of the machine,preferably at an angle of and above this knife is a raising-plate 37which is connected with a rock-shaft 38 (Fig. 5) carrying upwardlyextending arms 39 one of which is connected by a long rod 40 with abell-crank lever 41 which is turned by a cam 42 mounted on a disk 87 ona shaft 43 which carries a gear 44 in mesh with a pinion 45 on a drivenshaft 46. Above this stripper plate and swinging on a rod 47 is a stripof card cloth 48 beneath which the sheet 4 of fabric passes. This cardcloth prevents the strip from creeping backward and yet permits it to befreely drawn forward. (lo-acting with the lower cutter or stationaryknife 36 is a movable cutter or upper knife 49 which is fixed to aplatecarrier 50 having a series of upwardly extending arms 51 which arepivotally connected with a plate-carrying frame or bridge 52, thisbridge being provided at opposite ends with vertical bearings 53 whichride on upwardly extending posts 54 mount ed on opposite sides of theframe. The several fingers 51 have clearance openings 55 through whichpins 56 extend, these pins being screwed into the bridge 52 and overtheir outer ends are placed springs 57 which may be adjusted by nuts 58screw-threaded onto the pins 56. To raise the bridge vertically andprevent uneven motion or tilting, the bridge is connected at oppositeends by rods 59, 60, with bell-crank levers 61, 62. The arm 63 of thelever 61 is connected by a connecting rod 64 with a lever 65 mounted ona stud 66 on which it rocks. In linewith the connecting rod 64 is ashort rod 67 provided with a head 68 riding on an eccentric or cam 69 onthe shaft 43. The shaft 43 extends across the machine and on it is asimilar cam moving a head 70 which moves a rod 71'extending intoengagement with the upper arm 72 of the bell-crank lever 62 and so thatthe movement imparted to the rods 59 and 60 is the same, notwithstandingthe fact that one end of the bridge is farther forward than the other.Forward of the table is a carriage 108 the ends of which are connectedwith bearing blocks 73 at opposite sides which blocks ride in tubularbearings 74 at opposite sides of the frame, the tubular bearings beingformed with horizontal slots 7 5 through which lugs 76 on the bearingblock 73 extend and to which hugs the table is connected. The ends ofthe block. correspond in diameter to the internal diameter of thetubular bearings 74. These blocks are connected with long rods 77carrying at their rear ends similar bearing blocks 78, the blocks 78being provided with downwardly extending lugs 79 which extend downwardthrough slots 107 in the tubular bearing 74,

and these lugs 79 are coupled with an endless cable 80 running overidlers 81, 82, and driven by a drum 83 around which it is turned, thisdrum being provided with a pinion 84 meshing with a longitudinallymovable rack 85 eccentrically coupled by a connecting-rod 86 with a disk87. The point of attachment to the disk may be adjusted to regulate theextent of movement of the rack. I

On the carriage 108 and projecting beyond the rear edge thereof are aseries of lower gripper-fingers 88 arranged in line with clearancenotches 89 formed in the raising plate 37 and co-acting with these lowerfingers 88 are a corresponding series of upper fingers or grippers 90which are connected with a rock-shaft 91 mounted in suitable bearings onthe ends of the carriage. Also secured to the rock shaft are a series ofrearwardly extending arms 92 beneath which springs 93 are placed thetendency of which is to force the rippers together. To manually open thegrippers a rock-shaft 94 is arranged above the carriage, and on thisrock-shaft is a cam 95 engaging with one of the arms 92 and so that byturning the cam 95 the grippers may all be opened if desired. As thecarriage moves rearward toward the cutters, the grippers are open; butwhen the grippers have passed onto the raising-plate they are releasedby a lug 96 at one end of the shaft 91 striking a stop 97 adjustablymounted on one of the tubular bearings 74; and this closing of thegrippers takes place just as the fingers enter the notches 89 in theraising-plate and while the bridge is raised. The grippers come togetherto grip the edge of the fabric which has been lifted from the lowerknife by the raising-plate the edge of the fabric now being in line withthe grippers so as to be caught thereby.

Adj ustably mounted on one of the tubular bearings 74 is a cam 98 whichdetermines the extent to which the fabric is to be drawn forward beforethe cutting takes place, and on the end of the rock-shaft 91 is an arm99 which engages with the cam 98 to open the fingers, and it is to benoted that the bearing blocks 73 for the carriage come to a positionbeneath the cam 98 when the grippers are opened, and so prevent thetubular bearing from springing away under stress of pressure upon thecam 98. As the carriage moves forward to the limit of its predeterminedmovement,the arm 99 riding onto the cam 98 opens the grippers andreleases the strip of fabric, the machine beingtimed so that the cutterdescends when the carriage reaches the limit of its forward movement.hen a portion has been severed from the strip of fabric it drops ontoaprons 100 all of which are driven from a roller 101 in rear of cuttersand running over of the springs resting on bearing blocks 106.

With a machine thus constructed fabric is drawn onto the table andspread, so to speak, at the rear end so as to lie flat upon the table,and any tendency to creep to one side is overcome'by the reverseinclination of the warp fingers. If, however, the fabric does creep toone side or the other, this may be overcome by manipulating the fin-Igers which spread the fabric toward opposite sides and thus correct itscourse in the same manner as would be done by thehands of an operatorwere these fingers not present.

I claim 1. In a bias cutting machine, the combination with the tablethereof, of a series of pivotal warp fingers arranged adjacent to therear of the table and at an'angle thereto.

2. In a bias cutting machine, the combination with the table thereof, ofa series of reversely turned pivotal warp fingers arranged adjacent tothe rear end of the table and at an angle thereto;

3. In a bias cutting machine, the combination with the table thereof, ofa series of reversely turned warp fingers pivotally mounted at theirrear ends adjacent to the rear end of the table at an angle thereto, andmeans for moving the inner ends of the fingers transversely.

1. In a bias cutting machine, the combination with the table thereof,comprising a series of bed-plates separated at their adjacent ends, oftransverse rollers arranged between the plates, and means for raisingand lowering said rollers whereby the upper surfaces may be projectedabove the plane of the bed plates or be depressed below the planethereof.

5. In a bias cutting machine, the combination with a table and knives,of a longitudinally movable carriage forward of the knives, saidcarriage connected at opposite ends with bearing blocks, and tubularguides in which said blocks travel.

6. In a bias cutting machine, the combination with the table and cuttersthereof, of

a carriage, said carriage connected with bearing blocks, slotted guidetubes in which said blocks travel, means for moving the blocks, grippingfingers mounted on the carriage, a cam mounted on one of the tubularbearings, an arm connected with the grippers and adapted to engage withsaid cam whereby the grippers are opened.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscrib- .1ng witnesses.

WILLIAM A. GORDON.

Witnesses:

Fnnnnnro O. EARLE, CLARA L. WEED.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

